1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of query navigation in a hierarchically structured document. More specifically, the present invention is related to a cursor implementation for an XML data or result set.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is becoming a widely used format and standard for data exchange between disparate computer systems on the Internet. As XML attracts a growing number of users, the need arises to manage XML documents in relational databases residing on such disparate computer systems, since much of the data involved in data transactions is stored on relational databases. However, basic XML document structure is quite different from the structure of a relational, or more specifically, Standardized Query Language (SQL) database. Because of the disparate nature of these languages, integration presents a challenge.